1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an ink composition including a chromophore-mimic additive, and an ink jet printer cartridge and an ink jet recording apparatus including the same. More particularly, the present general inventive concept relates to an ink composition that shows excellent coloration due to a chromophore-mimic additive, and improves durability of printed images, such as waterproofness, lightfastness, gasfastness, environmental resistance, etc., and an ink jet printer cartridge and an ink jet recording apparatus including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an example of a black dye used to prepare an ink composition for an ink jet printer, Food Black 2, is as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,135.
A color ink composition that can be used together with the black dye described above consists of an ink set including yellow, magenta, and cyan dyes. Examples of dyes used in the ink set include Acid Yellow 23, Direct Red 227, and Acid Blue 9, which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,547. Other examples include Direct Yellow 86, Acid Red 52, and Acid Blue 9, which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,519. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,573 discloses an ink set using Acid Yellow 23, Acid Red 52, and Acid Blue 9 together with diethylene glycol.
However, although the colorants described above can implement color images, these colorants have very weak durability against light, gas, and heat, and thus the results of printing using the colorants cannot be stored for a long term.
To solve the problems described above, techniques using a pigment having multi-resonance structure (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,319,309, 6,648,952, and 6,749,674), a pigment together with a dispersant, or a surface-modified self-dispersible pigment that does not require a dispersant (U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,648,953 and 6,506,245) have been proposed to enhance light fastness and durability.
However, it is difficult to use a sufficient amount of the colorant described above since a portion of hydrophobic groups in the molecular structure of the colorant increases and its affinity to water decreases, thereby resulting in a decrease in solubility in water. Finally, a stability of the colorant in ink cannot be maintained so that the colorant precipitates or leads to laser separation in ink. Further, viscosity of the ink rapidly increases and the ink cannot be smoothly ejected and thus clogs nozzles of the cartridge.